A vehicle may include one or more airbag modules to protect the occupants of the vehicle in a collision. Such an airbag module generally comprises an airbag inflated by a gas generator. The airbag may be formed as a sleeve (airbag sleeve) enclosing an interior (which may be filled with gas) of the airbag. The airbag module may further comprise a receptacle which accommodates the airbag package. A top surface of the airbag module may be arranged in the motor vehicle when the airbag module is installed, such that the top surface is associated with a seat of the motor vehicle. A cover of the airbag module may extend along the top surface, the cover comprising an outer surface facing the seat and an inner surface facing the interior of the module receptacle.
The term “seat” is understood not as a motor vehicle seat but that part of the motor vehicle interior which is taken up by a motor vehicle occupant, who is located according to requirements (on a specific seat) within the motor vehicle, and who is intended to be protected by the airbag module in the event of a crash.
Such an airbag module is, for example, known from DE 196 48 136 (incorporated by reference herein).
In a collision, the cover of such an airbag module may have to initially be opened before the airbag packed into the module receptacle may be deployed into the vehicle interior through the top surface of the airbag module closed by the cover. This generally occurs as the airbag expands when filled with gas by the associated gas generator. The expanding airbag presses against the cover, rupturing or tearing it along rupture joints or tear lines provided to open an aperture in the top surface of the airbag module. The airbag may be deployed through this aperture, which is oriented toward the vehicle occupant to be protected and/or the seat identified thereby, in the direction of the vehicle occupant to be protected and/or the corresponding seat.
In such arrangements, however, there is the problem that initially a considerable internal pressure has to be built up in the airbag before said airbag is able to move the cover from its closed position into an open position. This means that the airbag initially emerges from the module receptacle already with a correspondingly large internal pressure, leading to an increased risk of injury to a vehicle occupant leaning over the airbag module—outside his or her normal seating position—when additional measures might not have been taken to prevent injuries to the vehicle occupant in such an OOP-case (“out of position case”). Moreover, it is also possible that the cover, moving in the event of a crash under the pressure of the deployed airbag, causes an obstruction.
On the other hand, airbag modules are known which have no cover on the top surface facing the vehicle occupant to be protected, see DE 199 34 249 A1. In this case, however, there is the problem that no clear reproducible deployment of the airbag is ensured in the event of a crash and the combination with a horn function is difficult.